There’s no getting away from it, the feeling around Rangers isn’t overly positive right now. Manager Michael Beale is not yet doing an especially convincing job, with lots of ‘give him time’ from the optimists, but if we’re honest, the atmosphere at Ibrox for a European night was as dead as we can remember for a long while.

Ibrox Noise’s Kirsty suggested a big issue is the lack of boyhood Rangers fans among our playing staff. Gone are the days Bluenose guts were in the dressing room, like McGregor, Scotty, Davo, and going back further Barry, McCann you name it.

Now if there’s even one fan in there we’re lucky, and that would be Ryan Jack.

And that was Michael Beale’s vision – for a man himself who says he loves the club so much, the only Rangers fan he kept around the place was Jack – the rest were all freed or sold or whatever. A good idea? We’re not so sure.

And while we’re not saying that’s why things under Beale this season haven’t got going yet, it doesn’t help, of course.

So what are we getting at here?

Well, to put it bluntly, until Michael Beale sorts his system, his football and his players out, if he’s capable of doing so, that is, this funk feeling around the club will continue.

We’re already behind in the league, which was a nightmare start, but one loss for Celtic and a few wins for Beale’s Rangers and hey presto, the mood COMPLETELY changes.

It’s getting that click, that gel, that cohesion going.

And until then, unfortunately the atmosphere and general ‘meh’ around the place isn’t going to change.

Rangers fans are deeply demanding, we want the best and we don’t settle for second. And when we see a Rangers regime that doesn’t seem to be matching up or working, we let it be known.

This is not unprecedented. Remember PLG and his woeful domestic Rangers? He was fifth in the table at one point with his hapless side, and no one will forget the last few seasons under big Eck – that the mediocrity of Chris Burke was our best player when he ‘broke’ through gives some idea of how far that regime plummeted as well.

So seeing Beale in a bit of a fankle is not anything new to Rangers fans already used to the nightmare of 2012-

But with the summer work done, and the money spent, it’s not what we want to see.

The ‘give it time’ brigade are understandable, but Beale suffers ‘Walter Smith Syndrome’ whereby all Rangers managers are judged against the Grand Master of them all, and he was able to turn the club around with just 4 signings when he came back in his second spell, spending just £2M in the process. Overnight he Made Rangers Great Again.

Beale got new manager bounce syndrome when he initially joined last season, but he’s finding the going tougher now.

What we fans want is to see improvement. Last night was not horrible, but it did revert to Rangers type after such a brilliant first 20+ minutes.

But it was better, ish, than Killie. Well we won at least.

Beale needs a lot more of that first 20 minutes. And Rangers fans expect it too.

Can he manage it? Time, as always, will tell.